# William Conor artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/william-conor/
Profile generated: 2026-05-05T05:12:38.843Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Irish, British
- Common media: oil painting, drawing, lithography

## About William Conor

William Conor (1881–1968) was a Belfast-born painter, draftsman, and lithographer celebrated for vivid depictions of everyday life in early twentieth-century Ulster. Appointed OBE and elected President of the Royal Ulster Academy (PPRUA), he also held memberships in the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI). Conor's practice centered on genre scenes, landscapes, and portraits that capture working-class Belfast communities with warmth and observational precision. His work is held in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and documented in standard references such as Bénézit and the Witt Checklist. Paintings of Belfast street life, market scenes, and rural Ulster subjects form his most recognized body of work, combining documentary realism with an accessible painterly style.

## Common works and media

Conor worked primarily in oil on canvas and board, watercolor, and drawing media. Common auction subjects include Belfast street and market scenes, rural Ulster landscapes, genre pictures of working-class life, and portraits. Lithographic prints also surface in sale records. Works range from small panel studies to larger exhibition-scale canvases.

## Market and appraisal context

William Conor's auction market is well-established, with 73 recorded lots spanning 2001–2024 and 40 lots carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide but informative: the median stands at approximately $2,000 USD, the 25th percentile at $800, and the 75th percentile at $9,000. The top end reaches $192,000, indicating that large-scale or museum-quality Belfast genre scenes command premium prices, while smaller works on paper and studies trade in the low hundreds to low thousands. Conor's work is concentrated at specialist Irish auction houses — Gormleys Art Auctions dominates the volume — but significant lots have passed through Sotheby's and Christie's, confirming international blue-chip channel recognition. Other houses include Ross's Auctioneers & Valuers (Belfast), Sheppards, Adam's (Dublin), Mallams, Case Antiques, Caza Sikes, and Cheffins. Recent liquidity is thin: zero lots in the trailing twelve months and one lot in the prior year (The Boxing Match at Toomey & Co., October 2024, $2,400 USD), suggesting that while the market is mature, it is not highly active at present. The strongest prices are associated with characteristic Belfast and Ulster genre subjects — street scenes, market fairs, sporting subjects — in oil on canvas or board.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

William Conor's auction market is well-established, with 73 recorded lots spanning 2001–2024 and 40 lots carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide but informative: the median stands at approximately $2,000 USD, the 25th percentile at $800, and the 75th percentile at $9,000. The top end reaches $192,000, indicating that large-scale or museum-quality Belfast genre scenes command premium prices, while smaller works on paper and studies trade in the low hundreds to low thousands. Conor's work is concentrated at specialist Irish auction houses — Gormleys Art Auctions dominates the volume — but significant lots have passed through Sotheby's and Christie's, confirming international blue-chip channel recognition. Other houses include Ross's Auctioneers & Valuers (Belfast), Sheppards, Adam's (Dublin), Mallams, Case Antiques, Caza Sikes, and Cheffins. Recent liquidity is thin: zero lots in the trailing twelve months and one lot in the prior year (The Boxing Match at Toomey & Co., October 2024, $2,400 USD), suggesting that while the market is mature, it is not highly active at present. The strongest prices are associated with characteristic Belfast and Ulster genre subjects — street scenes, market fairs, sporting subjects — in oil on canvas or board.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily uses these auction records as a baseline for comparable-market analysis. When you submit photos, dimensions, medium, signature details, condition report, and provenance information, the appraisal engine matches your item against the recorded lot population — filtering by medium (oil vs. drawing vs. print), subject category (genre scene, landscape, portrait), size range, and auction-house tier. The wide price spread ($70–$192,000) means that medium, scale, and subject identification are critical to placing your item in the right value band. Edition details matter for lithographic prints. Comparable lots from the recent sale record — such as Exercising the Greyhounds ($9,000, Case Antiques, 2018), Lammas Fair (£6,000, Gormleys, 2017), and Grandmother and Child (£950, Roseberys, 2023) — illustrate how subject and medium drive pricing. A formal condition report is recommended, as restoration or damage can materially affect value for early twentieth-century works.

### Valuation factors

- Medium and support: oil on canvas and board command the highest prices; works on paper (pastel, pencil, crayon) trade in the lower range ($70–$950).
- Subject matter: Belfast street life, market scenes, and Ulster genre subjects are most sought after and achieve the strongest results.
- Scale: larger exhibition-scale canvases significantly outperform small panel studies and drawings.
- Auction channel: lots at Sotheby's and Christie's tend to carry higher estimates than regional Irish houses, reflecting both buyer depth and consignment quality.
- Provenance and exhibition history: works with documented exhibition records or royal/academic provenance attract premiums.
- Condition and authenticity: works should be verified against Bénézit, RKD documentation, and the Witt Checklist. Conor's long career spanned 1881–1968, making date attribution and period identification important.
- Signature and inscriptions: Conor typically signed his works; absence of signature should be noted and may affect value.
- Currency context: Irish and UK regional sales price in GBP or EUR; comparable analysis should account for exchange-rate timing.

### Collector notes

- The middle market for Conor is active and accessible: median prices around $2,000 USD make characteristic works attainable for collectors of Irish art.
- High-end Conor (large Belfast genre canvases) is rare at auction — the $192,000 top price represents an outlier. Buyers seeking top-tier works should expect infrequent appearances and competition from institutional bidders.
- Gormleys Art Auctions (Dublin/Belfast) handles the highest volume of Conor lots and is the primary channel for mid-range works. Sotheby's and Christie's lots are less frequent but tend to represent more significant pieces.
- Works on paper (drawings, pastels, studies) appear regularly and trade below $1,000, offering an entry point for collectors.
- Liquidity has slowed recently (0 lots in the last 12 months), which may present buying opportunities but also means fewer comparable data points for pricing.
- Lithographic prints surface occasionally; these trade well below original works and are suitable for decorative or introductory collecting.

### Market caveats

- Price data spans 2001–2024 and mixes USD, GBP, and EUR originals; figures shown are indicative and should be confirmed against specific lot records before relying on them for valuation.
- No lots were recorded in the trailing twelve months, so current market direction is uncertain. One lot in the prior year ($2,400 at Toomey & Co.) provides minimal recent evidence.
- The $192,000 maximum price is an outlier that may represent a large-scale or historically significant work; it should not be treated as representative of typical market levels.
- 33 of 73 lots have no recorded price (unsold, withdrawn, or price not captured), which may underrepresent the true buy-in rate.
- Conor produced a large body of work over a long career (c. 1881–1968); attribution and dating require specialist verification, particularly for unsigned or loosely attributed works.
- Auction records derive from Appraisily's auction-feed index and may not capture every sale, especially private transactions or regional Irish house results outside the feed.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/william-conor/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-william-conor-irish-1881-1968-three-huddled-figures-7-c-5264e1bacd

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available.

## Sources

- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/17972
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/43204284/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82263492
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/65341
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500004759
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8007060
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Conor